Zero hours deals 'undermine trust'

Workers on zero hours contracts are often afraid to look for other jobs and feel excluded from the sense of security given to full-time employees, according to a new study.

The conciliation service Acas said it was receiving around 70 calls a week about zero hours contracts, with a feeling of "effective exclusivity" of being tied to one employer emerging as a major concern.

Acas chairman Sir Brendan Barber, said: "Our analysis reveals that many workers on zero hours contracts experience a deep sense of unfairness and mistrust that go beyond the use of exclusivity clauses.

"A lot of workers on zero hours contracts are afraid of looking for work elsewhere, turning down hours, or questioning their employment rights in case their work is withdrawn or reduced.

"This deep rooted 'effective exclusivity' can be very damaging to trust and to the employment relationship. "There also appeared to be a lack of transparency on the terms of their contractual arrangements.

"Many people did not seem to even know that they were on a zero hours contracts and some believed they were on a permanent contract due to the length of their service."

The Government has been consulting on the use of zero hours contracts amid calls from unions and campaign groups to have them banned.

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Labour has pledged to tackle abuses of zero hours contracts if it wins the next general election.

Acas said zero hours contracts with exclusivity clauses where there was no guarantee of work were likely to have a negative impact on employment relations.

Sir Brendan added: "These clauses undermine trust in the employment relationship and create insecurities for employees both in terms of their pay and their choices for working elsewhere."

Business Secretary Vince Cable said: "Acas's research supports what we have found in our review.

"Whilst zero hours contracts work for some, the use of exclusivity clauses and the lack of clear information can leave employees feeling vulnerable.

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"That is why I launched a consultation last autumn which looked into the issues of transparency and exclusivity in the use of zero hours contracts, to ensure people are getting a fair deal.

"I want to make sure those looking to work flexibly under these types of contracts understand their rights and are not prevented from topping up their income by being tied exclusively to one employer. We will publish our response to the consultation shortly"

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Comments (2)

Zero hours contract? unless you are paid a retainer fee how can you be considered to be contracted to any company. Recently I have talked to a few people on these and whilst most of them are actually working 16 plus hours one had not had any work in weeks. The companies excuse is that they dont have the regular hours to allocate to staff but they may need all this staff at some point. It seems to me that all companies are doing is missing out the "temp agency" and associated costs but contracting workers who are kept for those few and far between days when that number of staff are required. These should be banned out right, give workers real jobs with real hours, most I am sure will be wiling to work those extra hours when they come around, but it seems business as usual, workers are expendable profits are not.

Zero hours contract? unless you are paid a retainer fee how can you be considered to be contracted to any company. Recently I have talked to a few people on these and whilst most of them are actually working 16 plus hours one had not had any work in weeks. The companies excuse is that they dont have the regular hours to allocate to staff but they may need all this staff at some point. It seems to me that all companies are doing is missing out the "temp agency" and associated costs but contracting workers who are kept for those few and far between days when that number of staff are required.
These should be banned out right, give workers real jobs with real hours, most I am sure will be wiling to work those extra hours when they come around, but it seems business as usual, workers are expendable profits are not.RealLivin

Zero hours contract? unless you are paid a retainer fee how can you be considered to be contracted to any company. Recently I have talked to a few people on these and whilst most of them are actually working 16 plus hours one had not had any work in weeks. The companies excuse is that they dont have the regular hours to allocate to staff but they may need all this staff at some point. It seems to me that all companies are doing is missing out the "temp agency" and associated costs but contracting workers who are kept for those few and far between days when that number of staff are required. These should be banned out right, give workers real jobs with real hours, most I am sure will be wiling to work those extra hours when they come around, but it seems business as usual, workers are expendable profits are not.

Score: 1

MrDoooon says...8:01pm Mon 12 May 14

Zero hour contracts are evil. Any company that uses zero hour contracts deserves to go under. Zero hour contracts will one day result in mass cival disobedience.

Zero hour contracts are evil. Any company that uses zero hour contracts deserves to go under. Zero hour contracts will one day result in mass cival disobedience.MrDoooon

Zero hour contracts are evil. Any company that uses zero hour contracts deserves to go under. Zero hour contracts will one day result in mass cival disobedience.

Score: 1

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